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Christiaan Quyn
14,706 PointsAppreciate any advice & tips on initiating my startup (Real Estate Website) :D
Hey everyone,
So I want to build a web site that values property in my country according to a mathematical / statistical model. The website would have a large google Map that takes the center stage as its home page and as the user hovers over an area over the map he/ she would be prompted with information about that particular area. It would have a log in page and registered users bookmark or favourite certain zones they like and even set reminders on future listings in a certain area. The rest of the website would just contain Pictures and Information.
I have found nice PHP and Wordpress templates that look like what I had in mind, I'm still a beginner though and other than running basic PHP and changing a few things like the text, image content- I'm having a tough time trying to wrap my head around how I would go around entering data about a particular area of land and managing all of it (MYSQL .. Google Maps ? ).
I've finished most of the database and java content on treehouse and now I'm finishing up the PHP track. So my question is how best can I utilise Treehouse's amazing content to build what I have in mind, I feel like the PHP track by itself isn't enough, shall I start the Front End Web Development track ? Wordpress ? Perhaps a Tech degree ?
Cheers
3 Answers
jag
18,266 PointsNever built anything like this but it can be done. You have to break down every problem that you have (the questions you ask and ask yourself). Once you have the problems listed then you can start looking into how to solve it and what programs to use. And to be quite frank with you using a template that was already built for one purpose wouldn't do much for you when you try to repurpose it for another.
In simple terms you have data and it will be shown by Google Maps. Answer would be Google Maps API Data Layering. Read about the API and you will know how to use it, pass data and so on.
The project you are going for will need more knowledge that you would have to get yourself whether it be through other open source projects or read about how certain applications were built.
roberthopman
16,502 PointsHey Christiaan,
is it a hobby project or a startup?
Are you building this for people that want this to be developed or do you think it is valuable for people?
Christiaan Quyn
14,706 PointsHey Robert,
It's not a hobby, it's a site my friends and I genuinely want to build. I live in a developing country and there are a lot of local services that haven't been put online. I think it is valuable information, right now if I wanted to find the price of property in the city of Colombo , I'd have to look through the local craigslist and evaluate multiple properties in the region or go through a newspaper and do the same and come up with a figure.
That's just the city, now the rest of the country gets pretty rural and it gets even harder to find that information then, I've got a couple of friends who can work out the mathematical model for how property is evaluated - and I'll be building out the site.
roberthopman
16,502 PointsIf it's not a hobby: Consider me your first follower. Do you have a mailing list or something?
Christiaan Quyn
14,706 PointsSure ! .. I'm currently still in the design stage and my friends have to work with certain Statistical departments of the Government to ensure the figures are as accurate as possible so we are a long way to go before launch, keep in mind this is just for property in Sri Lanka , any interest in coming here anytime soon haha ? Sure , send me an email at christianq010@gmail.com and when we launch I'll be sure to drop you an email :D , even better I'll upload everything onto GitHub and you can be a part of it and contribute if you'd like :D
Christiaan Quyn
14,706 PointsChristiaan Quyn
14,706 PointsThank you Jag , amazing example and I'll be sure to look into the Google Maps API's .. it is unlikely I'll be able to do this on my own so I'm working on building a small team. If you know of any open source projects or interesting articles please feel free to suggest them over here- I'd love to check them out ! Thanks again